Ah yes. The unparalleled glory that is the Ascension aluminium razor from that cheeky japester Douglas Smythe at Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements in the US. What an all-round good egg he is, especially as he's responsible for not just this fine example of shaving engineering, but also the wonderful Cube pre-shave treatment as well as many, many other wonderful shaving-related items on the Aladdin's cave that is the PAA website. More about The Cube elsewhere.
Let's get back to the Ascension. First of all, it's obviously a very striking razor. I'm a fan of the look of double open-combs, so I was already sold on the razor before I'd even shaved with it. To me, the Ascension looks like the kind of thing the crew of the Enterprise would shave with. It looks like there should be settings for kill and stun on there. There aren't, of course. It's a razor. Not a phaser. However, what the Ascension does have is a quarter-turn adjustment zone, meaning that if you screw the handle on fully, you can then unscrew it by a quarter turn, thus increasing the blade gap and the aggressiveness of the shave itself. If you want to read and understand more about the mechanics of the razor, then look no further than the product description on the PAA website which will tell you everything you could possibly want to know.
Here's a view along the handle to the underside of the baseplate. Look, look - it says PHNX and DOC. And there's knurling on the handle.
I'm well aware I'm doing the thing that I most hate in presentations, where someone stands up and simply reads the words off of a PowerPoint slide, while everyone watching sits there thinking, I know. I can read. Why are you even here?
And in keeping with things I hate about below-par presentations and the desperate lengths that a person giving such a presentation might stoop to in trying to get the audience interested, let's have a quiz, shall we? Can anyone tell me what PHNX and DOC might stand for? Anyone? Anyone? Come on, stop looking at your phones. Anyone?
Something I hadn't bargained for, despite knowing that the razor is made from aluminium, is just how light it is. It's really light. I mean, super-light. In terms of weight, it's like shaving with a safety pin, making that old adage of let the weight of the razor do the work somewhat redundant. I'm more accustomed to, and usually prefer, heavier razors. However, this is such a thing of beauty that it would seem churlish to go on about its weight - or lack of it - as I'm doing right now as it certainly doesn't detract from the quality of the shave itself, which is excellent. To be honest, I don't adjust it much within that quarter turn I mentioned earlier. I haven't used it enough to be able to comment on how much of a difference turning the handle really does make, so I'm not going to. But the shaves I've had from the Ascension have been comfortable with no after-shave irritation, bumps, or nicks with a more than acceptable level of closeness, which you would expect from an open-comb design.
In short, I'd say go and order one right now, but at the time of writing (mid-July 2020) they're currently out of stock on the Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements website. I can't believe I actually managed, just for once, to get in my order before the stocks ran dry. But if you get a chance, order one. I did so with some trepidation as I thought I'd be hammered by customs charges, being in the UK. But no. I assume on account of the razor being so light.
The Ascension, then: 10/10